Professor Akin Abayomi, Lagos State Commissioner for Health, announced that the state has begun the process of establishing a drug manufacturing agency to ensure access to high-quality medications and supplies.
He made this declaration at the 7th Nigeria Pharma Manufacturers’ Expo in Lagos, which took place on Wednesday.
The event, themed “Fostering Partnership and Innovation to unlock the Pharma Manufacturing Value Chain In Nigeria, Central and West Africa”, brought together 55 companies from China and India, as well as 100 members of PMG-MAN, to promote collaboration and innovation in the pharmaceutical industry.
He said:”The Lagos State government is already writing a draft law on the drug management agency , it will be submitted to the cabinet and passed on to the Lagos Assembly.
“Many states have done it. We are left behind because we have so many industrial platforms in Lagos and Ogun state, and most of these drugs are produced in our vicinity.
“This will enable Lagos not only to promote local manufacturing, but to also promote the idea of total quality assurance, including random testing alongside NAFDAC, and form a collaboration with the private sector”.
Professor Abayomi praised PMG-MAN for leading the effort to increase domestic drug production, aiming for self-sufficiency in the country.
He encouraged local manufacturers to adopt international best practices, emphasizing that achieving medicine security and national safety sufficiency is crucial for Nigeria’s survival and well-being.
“Today represents another of those occasions that you are making it clearly understood by all stakeholders and policymakers, that this is what you require to drive that local industry of self-sufficiency in the health sector and the pharmaceutical industry.
“In so doing, we must ensure that we’re not putting our citizens at risk because a substandard drug can result in severe morbidity, sickness or death,” he noted.
